


Save my soul for me

by velithya



Series: Tropes: A Final Fantasy XIII Remix [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/F, Post-Game, Tropes are fun!, WIP Amnesty, soulbonding, this will never be finished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 23:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14460330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velithya/pseuds/velithya
Summary: Once Fang commits to something, she doesn't look back. Lightning's stupidly grateful for that fact now, because it means Fang doesn't double check, doesn't doubt either herself or Lightning -- doesn't ask if she's sure.





	Save my soul for me

**Author's Note:**

> ~WIP Amnesty~
> 
> This was going to be the soulbonding trope part of my tropes remix series. Posting here as part of my WIP Amnesty since I don't think it'll be finished any time soon.

****

**Save my soul for me**

Fang had told her not to argue - practically demanded it, even - but the reality was, Fang was right -- she was the only choice for this. She cared about the others, of course, but it was that caring that ruled them out; Serah and Snow were married; Hope and Vanille had each started a gradual dance around the other, built on slow looks and tiny smiles; and Sazh, well, Sazh already had Dajh as the centre of his universe. None of them deserved to have someone else tied to them, thrust into the centre of their family in a way more permanent than any vow -- in a way more permanent than blood.

And it was that intimacy that guaranteed she couldn't look outside their little circle of ex-l'Cie, too; she wasn't about to open up her soul to Rygdea or Rosch or anyone else who hadn't gone through what they had; anyone who she didn't trust.

It was different with Fang. Fang, Sazh aside, was older, more mature, more -- just  _ more _ . She trusted Fang, maybe more than she did the others; and, more compellingly, Fang wasn't in a relationship, didn't have dependant family -- Etro knew Fang hung around  _ her _ more often than not. She wouldn't be forcing her way in between anyone, in the middle of where she didn't belong and would never be able to leave. It made sense.

So she doesn't argue, doesn't waste breath she needs to keep breathing evenly and steadily against the flares of pain shooting through her, reverberating from behind her eyes and along her cheekbones all the way around to the base of her skull.

"Okay," she says. "Do it."

Fang breathes out, something easing in her expression, and doesn't waste any time. She's on Lightning's bed a second later, sinking down carefully next to her. Lightning's already learnt her lesson about trying to move, can't shift over to make room, but just like she's done in Lightning's life, Fang fits somehow in the space between Lightning and the rail, easing in and making herself at home without disrupting Lightning's careful equilibrium.

"I think it'll be easier, if we can be in contact," Fang says, her skin warm all down Lightning's side. Her fingers close carefully around Lightning's hand, and she doesn't look back at the medics as she lifts her other arm for the needle.

Once Fang commits to something, she doesn't look back. Lightning's stupidly grateful for that fact now, because it means Fang doesn't double check, doesn't doubt either herself or Lightning -- doesn't ask if she's sure. She just hisses out a breath as the needle goes into the crook of her elbow and threads her fingers in between Lightning's.

Just asks, "How long?"

"Anything from 5 minutes to an hour," the nearest medic says, taping the needle into place, and a second medic uncaps a syringe red with Lightning's blood.

Fang's looking at her, but Lightning can't look away from Fang's arm, black lines of her warrior tattoo pointing straight at the needle piercing her skin, Lightning's blood sinking into her, millimetre by millimetre. 

The medic pulls the syringe, empty, out of the needle port, and that's it -- there's no going back. Sometime in the next 5 minutes to an hour, they're going to bond, and Fang will be stuck with her forever.

"Hey," Fang says, and gives her fingers a little squeeze. "It's going to be okay, Lightning."

Lightning pulls her eyes away from Fang's arm with an effort, tracking them vaguely up towards Fang's face. Fang's smiling at her, and Lightning knows her well enough to know that expression. It's not her victory smile, when they've just killed whatever oretoise or zirnitra has encroached on Haven territory; it's not her clan smile, the one that Lightning's seen reserved for Vanille and the small meadow outside Oerba; no, this is her relieved smile, the one where someone has survived nearly dying. Lightning's not sure that it speaks well of her, or of them in general, that she has seen Fang's no-one-is-going-to-die-today-thank-the-goddess smile well enough to identify it, but she relaxes a fraction almost despite herself, because that smile means that everything is going to be okay. 

Of course, that's when the pain  _ really _ hits.


End file.
